


Behind Unseeing Eyes

by MisteryMaiden



Category: Naruto
Genre: Blind!Naruto, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto)-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-03-25 23:30:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3828907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisteryMaiden/pseuds/MisteryMaiden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyuubi has been able to heal almost every wound that Naruto has ever received, but even the all powerful demon can't heal everything.  Rewrite of Sightless Eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So here it is! The revised first chapter of Sightless Eyes, now called Behind Unseeing Eyes. Basically the same title but I liked this one better and it'll be easier to make sure I post new chapters under the right name. Sightless Eyes will be marked as complete as soon as this goes up. The results of the pole is that you all want me to keep the drafts for the rest of my stories. I don't honestly know why because I cringe even trying to read them over but oh well. To each their own.
> 
> I wasn't originally going to post this until I had the second chapter done but with my recent troubles with internet and my laptop I didn't want to keep you all waiting for however long it took me to finish up Chapter Two.
> 
> Chapter One isn't that much different from the original draft and I'm warning you now, that is not going to be true for the rest of the chapter onwards. When I said I was going to rewrite this, I meant completely and with much prejudice. The original content will mostly still be there but there will be a lot more new content in between it and some things that were previously their own chapter could end up spanning three chapters.
> 
> Well, enough of my babbling. On to the story!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto because if I did, the dead would stay that way and Sasuke and Sakura wouldn't suddenly decide to steal Naruto's dream and Cannon Sasuke would just die already instead of being given infinite second chances. Obito would have also died when that boulder fell on him as well so he wouldn't have had to go crazy because the author decided to ruin one of my favorite characters.

**_Chapter One_ **

It was apparent to twelve year old Uzumaki Naruto that his entire village was filled to the brim with idiots. He hadn't ever truly thought that he would get away with his plan, even with the backing of the Hokage and yet, here he was. The newly minted genin couldn't help but snicker for this was the greatest prank he'd ever pulled and most hadn't even noticed what he had done. They probably wouldn't even notice for awhile to come, either.

Today would spell the end of one side of his masterpiece and begin the hardest challenge of his life: fitting in and keeping his most guarded secret just that; a secret.

Naruto smirked as he sat in his usual seat next to Uchiha Sasuke, the biggest prick in the world. He could  _feel_  the intense stares of his fellow classmates as they attempted to figure out exactly how he'd managed to pass the exam; as far as they were aware he had failed like always. Naruto himself would never tell them how he'd done it. So what if Mizuki had tricked him into stealing that scroll? The Hokage had honored the promise that Mizuki had made and he had graduated. If he had happened to learn a technique that could be used as a replacement for the Bunshin, well, that was just a fortunate coincidence in the long run.

Naruto sometimes loved the more devious side of the Hokage. When said devious side wasn't being used on him that is; which, now that the blond thought about it, was far more often than he would have liked. The rather unfortunate side effect of being one of the closest people to the aging leader, Naruto thought smugly.

It wasn't easy, pretending that he was normal, especially when he had only vague memories of what normal had been like (if he had ever really been normal). While the Hokage had tried his best to help him, this wasn't really anything that the man had experienced before. It was  _supposed_ to be impossible for him to ever be injured more than a few days at most. That was the common opinion and for the longest time, it seemed that it was true for the most part.

So when his eyes had never healed no one had known what to do. Medics were sworn to secrecy and eventually they began to think that his sight had returned to him when the Kyuubi had regenerated the eyeballs. However the nerve that connected them to his brain had never been fixed, leaving Naruto forever blind at the young age of four.

The Kyuubi, while having done a wonderful job healing his injuries in the past, had never been required to heal his host from such intricate damage. Unfortunately, that meant that the fox had no idea how to reconnect the right nerves and that left Naruto with eyes that would never again show him the world.

It was his most guarded secret. For if the council ever found out then he would be barred from  _ever_  becoming a shinobi of Konoha. His dreams would be tarnished and Naruto would never be able to gain the recognition that he been fighting for his entire life.

He would be powerless.

The Hokage had been determined to not let that happen. The secret became S-Ranked and the Medics had been banned from messing with his eyes ever again. Naruto had steadily been taught how to live without the sense of sight by the Hokage and could now easily pass for someone who could see. Reading was done carefully. Using chakra on the tips of his fingers, Naruto could read the words on the paper as the chakra took their form. Writing was done with much more precision as his hands would carefully make the shapes he saw in his head from the chakra. The forms would always turn out perfect when using the jutsu that he and the Hokage had created: a pulse of chakra that took the form of whatever it hit.

His handwriting was much better than it had been when he could see and by the age of six, it was like Naruto had been blind all his life, and Naruto couldn't have been more proud of his accomplishment. With this practice, he would be able to fool them all. And with that practice, Naruto had done just that.

Not even Iruka-sensei had guessed about his lack of eye sight. While he knew about the mask of ignorance Naruto put up to protect himself from the villagers, the teacher had never even guessed what Naruto had intended by hiding his personality: the cover-up of his disability. It was only logical that if they saw Naruto acting a bit 'odd', once it came out that he was pretending to be something he wasn't, those suspicious of him would easily attribute that oddity to his mask and they would never think that he was hiding yet another secret underneath everything.

Taijutsu was hard to learn without sight and Genjutsu nigh was impossible, leaving Ninjutsu as his best techniques. If Naruto had shown that he was intelligent and could easily comprehend the subjects, well, it would call into question how he was unable to complete the practical side of the subjects. Surely someone who was fairly intelligent would easily be able to learn  _all_  the materials? Another thing that his mask covered for him; since he was apparently 'stupid' then of course he would be behind in all the subjects and not just two out of three.

It was for this reason that Naruto would have to hide. The fact that he was effectively pranking the entire village at the same time was only a bonus.

Naruto was dragged from his thoughts as a loud screech directed at him tore at his sensitive ears. "NARUTO! I want to sit next to Sasuke-kun, so  _move_!" Oh great, the banshee had arrived.

' _Fucking banshee, go bark at another tree because I don't care,'_ Naruto growled to himself but for the sake of his sanity he only ignored her. He no longer needed to hide who he was (thank the lord as he might have gone insane if he'd had to act like that any longer) and Naruto could feel the smirk on his face spreading. Well then, what need did he have to pretend to like the pink haired banshee anymore? He wasn't even sure what prompted him to start the charade that he liked her in the first place. It certainly hadn't helped him in the long run.

In fact, he distinctly remembered quite a few instances where the pretense had gained him more abuse than anything else. While that abuse had been useful in cementing the fact that he was a moron as he kept going back to her, he'd gained more than his fair share of hatred for her quick to anger personality. What kind of girl treated someone who acted like they worshiped the ground she walked one with violence? Freaking ingrate.

The graduating genin merely stared at the silent and most definitely  _not_  hyper and absolutely  _not_  smiling boy. It was like a complete personality change from what he had been only yesterday! To say that the gathered class was confused would be but an understatement. They were completely lost by this drastic change and weren't sure what to do with the less than cheerful blond. Only one of the gathered genin seemed to have any idea of what was happening in that moment.

"Troublesome. Finally decided to act like yourself, eh, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, his head not once leaving its place against the desk. Naruto wasn't all surprised that the Nara had already figured everything out. Shikamaru just seemed to  _know_  things that he shouldn't; a trait that made him more than a tad uneasy at times. The Hokage had assured him that it was a Nara trait in general and that he shouldn't worry about it so Naruto brushed his classmate's easy knowledge of his mask aside.

"Why bother anymore? No one ever noticed, not even Iruka-sensei! I mean, come on, it wasn't  _that_  hard!" Naruto whined, still rather put out by the lack of comprehension of his prank. Really, and this was supposed to be a ninja village? If the ANBU weren't around, Naruto would fear for Konoha's safety. They obviously would never be able to find a spy in their mists without the elite group of ninja (The best example being the now imprisoned Mizuki, a spy that had been teaching their  _children_  for goodness sake and it  _still_  took a genin to figure him out for the traitor he was).

"Eh, what did you expect?" Shikamaru sighed from his makeshift pillow (i.e. his arms). "If they didn't figure it out after the first time you failed the exam, then it was likely that they'd never get a clue. Everyone knows that the only reason you fail is because of the Bunshin. It's not that hard to figure out when you take into account that to get to the Ninjutsu part of the test, you have to have seventy percent on the other portions of the exam."

Naruto watched in amusement as all of the other graduates smacked their heads into their respective desks. "Me thinks they feel a might bit stupid," snickered the blond. Really, it was their own faults for being unobservant little spoiled brats. Shikamaru snorted before returning to his nap.

Uchiha Sasuke had his attention focused on only the dobe and the dobe alone. His thoughts were filled with memories and a new meaning to them. " _I was only joking."_  That had been the dobe's favorite response when he had done something wrong. And come to think about it, he had never used that excuse when doing the Bunshin.  _'How in the world did I miss that? Aren't I supposed to be the prodigy here? How was Shikamaru, of all people, able to notice and not me?'_ This didn't sit well with the last Uchiha. He was the one who was supposed to be the rookie of the year, not Shikamaru. If he could be fooled so easily then how was he ever going to be beat his brother?

Anger and dread coursed through his veins. A failure. He was a failure. He had already failed in his goal of being the best there was and now the newly minted genin wasn't sure what to do. How did one come back from such a striking blow to their pride?

"Quiet down now, everyone! It's about time to assign teams!" Iruka called over the excited talking of the new genin. Instantly, they were all quiet, much to the teachers' surprise. It usually took much more to get them all quiet. Then again, they were undoubtedly excited about the promise of graduation and beginning their careers as ninja. Iruka almost wanted to be there when they learned of the second exam.

Well, almost.

"Team 1: Hakumi Mendo, Kinsumo Ami, and Kamimo Konku. Team 2: Kumo Hami-" Naruto tuned the scared teacher out, not really caring about the other teams as he probably wouldn't see that much of them once he was assigned his own team. Hopefully, it would have neither the Uchiha nor the Haruno (her parents were second rate ninja that had stood by while they watched the villagers attack him).

"Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto's head snapped to attention at his name. Finally he would know who would be the ones that he would eventually come to see as family (at least, the Sandaime had been sure that was what was going to happen. Naruto was still a bit skeptic on that point). "Haruno Sakura." Right, make that more than a bit skeptic. There was no way in hell that the banshee would be anything more than an acquaintance to him. "And Uchiha Sasuke" It was official: life had it out for him. He'd been hoping to never have to see either of these two again and yet now he was cursed with their ever constant presence. Oh joy, Naruto thought with a grimace.

"Why do I have to be on a team with Naruto-baka?" whined Sakura. Naruto felt like it should have been the other way around as clearly, he was the one that had been slighted when the teams had been picked. He nodded at the sympathetic grimace both Shikamaru and Kiba sent his way. At least there was someone here that understood the severe injustice of this all.

Maybe, though, just maybe he would be able to gain an ally in at least one of his teammates. It wouldn't be hard to mold his chakra in the form that Sasuke's took. And all Uchiha's looked similar (and Naruto had seen enough of them before he'd lost his eyesight) so unless one looked closely, they would never know that it wasn't Sasuke. And they wouldn't look nearly as closely as an enemy would so Naruto felt confident that he could get away with this. In the future, though, Naruto would have to get Sasuke's description from someone because this wouldn't be nearly as effective against enemy ninja as it would a poorly trained genin fangirls.

There was also the fact that this wasn't the Henge exactly but it was close enough that Naruto had easily been able to use it to fool the teachers over the years and it wasn't like he could  _do_  the actual jutsu…he just wasn't able to see the characteristic of a person's face and body, rendering the jutsu useless to him; which was still going to be a problem that he would have to rectify in the future. However, that was a problem for another time; right now he had to make up his mind as to what he was going to do.

Decision made, Naruto decided to share his plan with the annoying bastard. "Hey, teme," Naruto whispered, getting Sasuke's attention. "I say as soon as the bell for lunch rings, we make a break for it. I can distract her, while you run."

"Why would you care?" Sasuke eyed the blonde in suspicion and Naruto could practically feel the gaze. Not the first time he wondered what the Uchiha really looked like. Surely he wasn't an  _exact_  carbon copy of his clan? Everyone had a least a few characteristics that were unique to themselves…well, it didn't really matter, did it? Naruto would never find out the answer to that question so it wasn't worth sparing any thought to it, was it?

"Because you're my new teammate and I should get into the habit of helping you escape the females of your fan clubs. As for the males, you're on your own there." Naruto hissed back, he could feel the glares of all of the fangirls on his back. Thankfully, there were no fanboys in this class or else Naruto wouldn't be able to hide his disturbed face because really, while he had no problem with homosexuals in the long run, over obsessive fans of any gender generally creeped him the hell out. Besides, Naruto thought to himself as he began molding the chakra necessary for this as the Uchiha made his decision; it would suck if you kept up the animosity against me when we're a team. If Naruto helped him now, Sasuke would be more inclined to take Naruto's side in an argument that Sakura's.

"I can live with that." The Uchiha was not too proud to turn down help from someone who could get him away from his terrifying fan club. Really, who was that obsessed with one person that much? Because that was what it was, an obsession. There was no kind words for stalking a boy who wasn't even a genin yet.

He did, however, know what Naruto was doing and he appreciated it. He would have done something similar if he was stuck on a team with two people who hated him. The feeling of failure he'd gained dissipated as he began wondering if there was another motive for Naruto to have for approaching him with this offer, but he pushed such thoughts aside for now. He would need to be ready to move when the class ended or else this would probably fail before it began.

And kami help him if it failed an those piranhas managed to sink their claws into him.

Iruka had just finished the team announcements when the bell rang, signaling it was time for lunch. In a flash Naruto replaced both himself and Sasuke with two Kage Bunshins' making sure one Henged as a young Uchiha. Said clone made a run for it, so as not to leave time for the fangirls to realize if any of his features weren't the exact replica of their quarry.

The real Naruto and Sasuke had quickly made their way up to the school roof, the only place they were sure that no one would accidently stumble on and ruin their distraction. It didn't take them long to break through the roof exit and barricade the door before sighing in relief at their successful (so far) escape.

"Nice job for a dobe." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the comment, vaguely noting that Sasuke had moved over by what Naruto thought was one of the benches. He wasn't sure, it was harder to tell object apart than it was to tell people apart by their chakra. He was getting better at it though and had managed to find a pencil he'd dropped last week. That was a large improvement from not being able to find his backpack while it was in front of him.

He absently wondered if size had anything to do with. The larger it was the more chakra it would take to find. Maybe he should train himself with the smaller objects for a while? He'd figure it out later, when he had more time to speculate on the subject.

"I had believed we'd established that that was actually an act. I'm not really that stupid but it was easier and more fun, to act like I was." Naruto replied while making sure that he was 'looking' right where Sasuke was supposed to be. It would look odd if he didn't.

Sometimes Naruto thought the best thing about being blind was that his eyes didn't carry the same milky cover as most blind people did. Kurama had made sure of that once he had realized the potential problems that could come from Naruto being blind.

"Yeah but why would you go through all that trouble just to pretend to be someone you weren't? What could have possibly motivated you to act like an idiot and get the lowest grades possible without failing?" Sasuke asked as he absently noted that this was more than he usually spoke in a month. The blonde seemed to be an acceptation to that general rule, apparently. Or Sasuke just really,  _really_  wanted answers; either way worked for him.

"There's an easy answer to that: I did it for practice. If we're sent on infiltration missions, we need to be able to act like completely different people to fool the enemy we're infiltrating. What better way to practice than in your own village where people are supposed to know you?" Naruto could almost imagine the gape on the stoic Uchiha's face. The other newly minted genin had probably been expecting a completely different answer.

"You really aren't a dobe." Sasuke said in contemplation. Even knowing that before they had left the classroom, years of thinking the blood a talentless moron weren't that easily cast aside. "Why can't you do Bunshin no Jutsu, then?" For all that the blond had usually said 'I'm just kidding' when failing to do a jutsu, the Bunshin had never received such an answer and the blonds' clones were truly pathetic looking. The newfound knowledge that the blond was actually skilled made this fact even more confusing than it had been before.

"I've got too much damn chakra. For me to even have a slim chance of  _ever_  performing that jutsu correctly I would need perfect chakra control and I don't have perfect chakra control at this point in time which makes it impossible for me to do the Bunshin." Naruto answered, feeling Sasuke's chakra signature move he concentrated on making his eyes follow Sasuke's movement, as if he was watching the Uchiha. It wasn't that hard to do and Sasuke didn't say anything, so Naruto assumed the other hadn't noticed his eyes moving only a second after Sasuke himself had moved.

"What about your Taijutsu? It's not really the Academy's style, is it?" Sasuke turned to look in the blonde's eyes, daring him to lie.

"Not all orphans have the privilege of living in the orphanage." Naruto replied dryly. He could feel the challenging look from the other turn into a surprised one. "And that's all you really need to know about it."

Sasuke was about to say something, probably going to protest Naruto's short answer, but the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break. Naruto quickly formed a hand sign, releasing the Kage Bunshin and nearly yelped as his head pounded. Memories came flooding back to him of the past half hour they'd spent running from rather crazed fangirls. "Man, those girls are terrifying." Naruto muttered, walking back down the stairs the classroom.

"You have no idea." Sasuke shuddered, images of many, many fangirls chasing him all over the village flashing to the front of him mind. Why did those girls think chasing him would get him to go out with them in the first place? All it really did was make him even more intent on never being caught by them. It was a wonder that they had ever managed to get this far into the academy with that kind of willful blindness to their own faults. Even Haruno and Yamanaka knew better than to pursue him in suck a fashion and they were rather hopeless when it came to him.

As they entered the classroom to wait for their new sensei, Sasuke pondered what he had learned about the blonde. They knew he wasn't a hyperactive idiot but he also knew that the blond had secrets that he hadn't shared. Not that Sasuke was all that surprised considering he hadn't been on the blonds' team all that long but it still stirred his curiosity.

Naruto on the other hand was wondering if he told the spoilt Uchiha too much. Sure he hadn't really said anything incriminating and he hadn't really gone into detail as to why his Taijutsu was so different from the Academy style but all it would take for the Uchiha to know why was to go digging into the Orphanage documents to see that he hadn't lived there since he was really young. A little more digging around and Sasuke could easily figure out all of Naruto's secrets and the new genin didn't know if he trusted his soon to be teammate enough for him to know that much about him yet.

He didn't know if he would ever trust his new team enough for them to know and that was a depressing thought. Genin teams were supposed to be your second and sometimes, first, family. The fact that he might never be able to trust any of them didn't bode well for the rest of his life in this village.

Sakura was unnerved as they sat there for three hours in complete silence waiting for their sensei to show up. It was even worse with Naruto no longer acting and that just added to the situation. Sakura wasn't sure if she liked this Naruto or not and that just managed to confuse her even more since she was always wishing the hyperactive blonde would be a little more serious and now that it had happened, she was wishing for him to go back to normal. Not to mention that hearing that 'normal' for the blond was all just an act for years was unnerving, to say the least. In short, Sakura had no idea what to think about her new teammate anymore.

Finally Naruto moved. Standing up, Naruto went over to the chalk board and picked up a chalk eraser. Weighing it in his hand for a minute, the blond smirked viciously and gained the attention of his two other teammates.. Tying a long piece of string to it, the blonde slid open the door just enough to fit the chalk eraser in. Moving over to the ceiling Naruto tied the string to a small hook that was used for the plants they had once had in the class. Studying his work, Naruto made a few unseen modifications until he hoped down and studied his work in satisfaction.

"What did you do?" Sakura asked, wanting to know what that was about. Sasuke was also looking at the blonde for an answer. Neither received one.

Naruto smirked and shrugged. They would know soon enough and Naruto didn't really want to give away the surprise. Also, locating that hook had taken some real effort and the blond didn't trust himself to speak without a slight pant in his voice and he didn't want to have to explain that he had needed to use chakra to find the hook.

Locating smaller objects had always been hard for him but Naruto found that it was becoming easier the more he used it and the older that he got. The pulses of chakra Naruto used to get around and locate objects that lacked their own chakra had been a stroke of genius on his part but it wasn't always easy to concentrate together enough to find smaller objects. Maybe once they were started on chakra control exercises by their jounin sensei it would become easier? Naruto shrugged to himself and settled down to wait for said sensei to finally make an appearance. He would have an answer eventually and it wasn't as if he couldn't get by with what he did already if it came down to it.

Only a few minutes later, a tall man with a large amount of chakra in him right eye walked into the room where the genin waited for him. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the white chakra that surrounded the man and the tainted red that was in his right eye. Why'd he have that much chakra in an eye and why was it such a different color from the man's other chakra? Maybe it was from a doujutsu; Naruto had heard that they required a large amount of chakra to even work and if so, it could account for the difference in color as well.

Somehow, he doubted it. If this was who he thought it was, then the color likely from the eye itself.

As the door slid open the eraser smacked the man in the head, causing him to curse before it swung forward and then backwards again, although this time with more force, smacking the jounin in the left eye. Naruto snickered as the poor man cursed even louder. That had worked out so much better than he had though it would! Really, he had just wanted to see how well the man would be able to detect such a rudimentary trap. That the man had actually failed to see it made Naruto want to preen with both pride and facepalm at the man's complacency.

"My first impression is: I hate you." The man growled, holding a hand to his eye. Naruto doubted this very much as the jounin's chakra was fluctuating in a way that Naruto knew he was holding back laughter. The genin's low opinion of him raised and Naruto knew that the man wouldn't make the same mistake twice. That would mean that if Naruto wanted to prank him in the future, it would take much more effort.  _'Well, at least I won't end up predictable,'_ he thought with relish.

Sakura turned to Naruto in confusion. While that had been a rather tame prank considering what Naruto usually did there was something that was bothering her about it… "How'd you know that he was going to be that tall?" she finally asked. It wasn't strange for Naruto to use the knowledge he had on other classmates and teachers to tailor pranks to them but as far as she knew, the blond had never met this man before an therefore shouldn't have been able to tell how tall he was.

The blonde only smiled at her. "All the other jounin were, so why not him as well?" It was complete bullshit on his part as Naruto was well aware of who would be teaching them. After all, if he was on a team with the last Uchiha who else would their sensei possibly be other than the only person left in the village with the Sharingan? Not to mention the fact that the man had been standing in the hall for the last three hours and it had been easy to figure out the man's height because of it.

Sharingan no Kakashi interrupted their conversation with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Meet me on the roof and we'll begin." The man said before his chakra flared and he vanished. Well, someone didn't do well with being ignored.

Naruto sighed and waited for Sasuke and Sakura to leave the room before opening a window, focusing chakra to his hands, and climbing up the outside wall to the roof. Once on the roof, Naruto took a seat on a nearby bench and watched as both Sakura and Sasuke came through the door and proceed to stare at the blond. Naruto just smirked and waved at them; ignoring the look he felt his new sensei give him. Naruto was well aware that he shouldn't have been able to do that but well, he had experimented with chakra as a child and if he learned how to climb walls like a gecko, than that was just a plus for him but Kakashi didn't need to know that.

Unknown to the blond, Kakashi was well aware of Gecko-san. Naruto didn't need to know that Inu, the ANBU who watched over him as a child, and Hatake Kakashi were the same people just yet. Maybe Kakashi would tell him one day or maybe Naruto would make the connection himself but until then, Kakashi was find letting Naruto think that Kakashi was trying to figure out how Naruto had managed to learn that particular skill.

At least he knew that tree climbing exercises were going to be interesting should the team manage to pass. Breaking Naruto of the habit to use both his hands and feet was going to be fun. The white haired man fought back the urge to cackle evilly. His new students eyed him wearily.

"Now that we're all here, why don't we introduce ourselves? I'll go first. My name in Hatake Kakashi. I like things and I dislike things. I have many hobbies. Dreams for the future? I don't think I'll tell you. Now you, Blondie." The genin glared at the man, well aware that they had learned absolutely nothing about him. Naruto also didn't appreciate being called blondie but Kakashi just ignored the rather intense glare coming from sky blue eyes.

Naruto scowled at the jounin before sighing. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, plants, and pranks. I dislike people who judge others and people that don't bother to get to know a person before assuming that they know everything about them. My hobbies include playing pranks and training. My dream is to become the Hokage." He would have just answered that it wasn't any of their business what he was like but Naruto was rather certain that would be detrimental to his goal of getting along with his new team.

And he wasn't sure he wanted to test the evil aura that was radiating from the white chakra'd man. It was taking all his will power not to scream 'pervert!' and flee from the building's roof.

On second thought, the reactions of his new team and sensei just might be worth it…

"Pinkie," Kakashi said after a moment of silence, unknowingly keep Naruto from carrying out his plan. For some reason, Kakashi thought as the attention turned to the girl of the team, he felt like he had dodged a bullet… Maybe he was imagining things?

Sakura glared at her teacher for the nickname. "My name is Haruno Sakura and I like well, a certain someone and I dislike well, I guess nothing really." Once upon a time the answer would have been 'Naruto' but she really couldn't say that she disliked him when she wasn't even certain what he was really like, could she? "My hobbies are, um, ah, yeah, anyway my dream is um, ah…" It did not go unnoticed that she had glanced at Sasuke during certain parts of her introduction.

' _Oh great, a fangirl. Just what I always wanted.'_  Kakashi thought sarcastically. "The Brooding one, it's your turn."

Sasuke glanced at his sensei. Well if his sensei didn't have to tell him anything, why did he? "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like to train." He said nothing more and after a few minutes, Kakashi seemed to realize that he wasn't going to.  _'Whoever said that children are cute should be stabbed.'_  Kakashi though as he studied his soon to be charges. As if the council would let him fail the team that had Uchiha Sasuke on it.  _'Repeatedly. And then maybe burned alive.'_

Kakashi sighed. This was going to be one fun test tomorrow. Oh well, just because he knew that there was no way that he'd be allowed to fail them didn't mean that they needed to know that. There was no way that he was going to let the council, especially the  _Civilian_  Council, take away all of his fun. "Meet me at training ground seven tomorrow and make sure that you don't eat."

"Why?" Sakura asked, while Naruto promised himself that he was going to eat anyways. Even if it was just to be contrary.

"Because tomorrow is the final test to become a genin!" Kakashi gave the group a smile. Or Naruto assumed he did from his tone of voice. Vaguely he wondered what his sensei looked like. Then he discarded that thought because it wasn't worth wondering about. The man probably looked like some kind of masked freak anyways. Maybe he would even had gravity defying hair to add to the ridiculousness of the look that was forming in his mind. Naruto snorted. As if.

Oh if he only knew…

"But I thought we were already genin!" Sakura exclaimed, obviously annoyed at the thought of another test. What was the point of the 'you're all adults know' speech their former sensei had given them if they hadn't truly graduated yet?!

"Nope. Out of all genin that graduated taking the test, only 33% will actually pass on to become genin." Kakashi's tone was gleeful, as if he enjoyed telling them the bad news. With that, his chakra flared again and vanished, leaving his new team to glare at the spot he'd once occupied.

Oh how much fun he was going to have with this group. Kakashi, in the safety of his home, let out a gleeful cackle.


	2. Chapter 2

Hatake Kakashi was late. Not just ten minutest late or even a half hour but  _over three hours late._   _'Asshole,'_  Naruto thought darkly as he and his new teammates waited in the clearing of the training ground.

It wasn't really the fact that his teacher was late that was really bothering him, either. Naruto could have very well used this time to rig the area up so that he would have an advantage in whatever test Kakashi was going to throw at them. No, what pissed him off was the fact that he had gotten here two hours earlier than the meeting time so that he could do exactly that and as a result, he was exhausted.

He was tempted to take a nap on the ground right there and then and he would have if he even remotely trusted the two teammates that had been assigned to him. Sakura and Sasuke were getting on his last nerves and it hadn't even been a full day since they had become a team!

Sasuke seemed to take the fact that he had been fooled by Naruto's act rather well the day before and Naruto was quickly suspecting that the reason was due to shock more than true acceptance. If he wanted his teammate to treat him in such a way again, Naruto was likely going to have to work for it.

For some reason, the thought didn't truly bother him all that much.

"Hello everyone!" a rather chirpy voice called from the direction of the market. Naruto glared at the approaching white figure and felt the urge to attack the moving mass clench in his muscles.

"You're late!" Sakura screeched, likely pointing in the direction of their sensei widely. Naruto covered his ears with a small wince at her loud voice. He hadn't been prepared for such a reaction from his female teammate, sadly enough.

"Maa, well you see…" There was a long, rather ridiculous, explanation of his tardiness that no doubt would have had Naruto feeling even more homicidal than normal if the blond had bothered listening to it at all. It was likely a good thing that he hadn't, really.

"Get to the point already!" Naruto snapped, interrupting whatever their sensei was saying. The man stopped talking, the intensity of his gaze making Naruto uncomfortable. While he knew that the man was looking at him he had no idea what kind of look it was. Was Kakashi glaring at him like he remembered villagers doing when he was younger? For some reason, the blond doubted it.

Indeed, Kakashi's one-eyed gaze was filled with more curiosity than anything else. While he had heard from the Hokage that Naruto had purposely been acting a certain way to throw off the villagers, he hadn't thought that the blond had been acting so much. Or that he hadn't at least adopted some of the characteristics he'd been using in his 'mask', like those not trained as Anbu tended to do. Without the right training, Naruto should have lost himself within the act.

And in a way, Kakashi was right.

Naruto had been pretending to be a carefree idiot for so long, stomping down on his inner thoughts that it actually felt wrong to not be smiling. His body was twitching with the need to move and he had to consciously keep that wide grin off of his face. It almost reminded Naruto of when he had first adopted his mask. Everything about what he did felt so wrong to him at that point and if he hadn't been using the mask to hide his disability, Naruto would have given up the charade within the week.

If not for the fact that Jiji had given him a bit of training in separating his identities, Naruto would have probably been so entwined with his mask that he wouldn't be able to separate from it at all.

"-the one who doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the Academy," Kakashi's voice broke through Naruto's thoughts and the blond snapped his attention to his new sensei, frowning in annoyance at the white chakra form in front of him. A small pulse of chakra let him know that Kakashi was holding two small objects.

He assumed that those were the bells Kakashi was talking about yet it didn't really make sense. Who had ever heard of a three man genin cell before? Konoha operated in four man genin cells with three genin and one jounin. The only exceptions where apprenticed genin and that was far rarer in recent years than it had been in the past. The Hokage wasn't about to let Kakashi get away with pulling a three man cell, either.

Eyes narrowed, Naruto ignored the signal to start as he analyzed what he knew. Three man cells didn't exist, that was for sure. A lone genin was definitely not going to be able to fight a jounin alone and win either.

So what was the point of having only two bells?

"Maa, you sure look pensive," Kakashi drawled, eyeing the blond with a frown. He had been keeping an eye on the Uzumaki since he had arrived and so far he was having trouble getting a read on the boy. The blond barely made eye contact and when he did, it was almost as if he was looking past Kakashi. There was also a glint in his eyes that seemed both natural and unnatural at the same time and the boy was literally pulsing with chakra.

Uzumaki Naruto was an enigma that was for sure. He was obviously well adjusted with both of his personalities and Kakashi could have sworn that the blond was  _analyzing_  him. Sky blue eyes flickered back and forth as if Naruto was trying to put together something and having no luck. If he wasn't careful, Naruto was going to figure out what the test was for.

"Just thinking, sensei." Naruto replied with a shrug, the look in his eyes softening to something more natural and less intense. The gaze was focused on him, locked onto his form in a way that almost made Kakashi want to shiver even if he didn't know why. There was just something off about how those blue eyes looked… "There's something wrong with this test."

So the blond was suspicious, eh? He would have pegged the Uchiha to be the first to get it but it seemed as if the boy wasn't nearly as intelligent as the reports had suggested.  _'They need improvement in stealth,'_  Kakashi noted as he heard the rustle of leaves from where both students were hiding. Clearly they were waiting for him and the blond to do something. "You only have until noon to get the bell," he reminded the blond, hoping to distract him with the time limit before him.

Naruto shrugged, as if uncaring of the time limit. There was something here that he was missing, Kakashi just knew it.

Naruto was thinking along the same lines.

The bell test was test within a test that much was obvious. But what was the true meaning and what did the jounin want them to do? He had gone over everything that he knew Konohagakure ninja cells and he was coming up empty-handed on what Kakashi wanted from them.

They had to get a bell, yet there were only two of them. They had until the alarm rang at noon to retrieve the bell and the one without the bell got no lunch. Without a bell, the team failed. That was what Kakashi said.

Yet the bells were just another test and to expect genin to retrieve bells from a jounin was high standards indeed. So there was definitely something else going on here.

"Do you know how to play poker?" Naruto asked, seemingly on a whim.

Kakashi frowned at the blond. He wanted to play poker? What kind of genin was this? "Yes," he drawled lazily, eyeing the genin before him intenty.

Naruto pulled a deck out of nowhere and started shuffling. "You want to deal or shall I?"

* * *

Sasuke was confused and just a tad bit frustrated to say the least. Here they were in a test that would decide whether or not they became genin and Naruto was playing poker with their sensei? He knew that the blond wasn't actually a loud mouthed idiot but this was ridiculous!

Even more bizarre was the fact that Kakashi was undoubtedly lousing and badly if the jounin's cursing was anything to go by. Not to mention the smug grin that was planted on the blonde's face as he robbed the jounin blind on what looked to be paper. If anything, the paper was the most confusing part of this whole charade. Who in the world demanded paper instead of money in poker?

"I bet He never had to deal with this," Sasuke mumbled under his breath, a tick forming next to his eye. It was already eleven and they'd still yet to make an attempt for the bells and it was all Naruto's fault!

He was pulled from his thoughts by Naruto exclaiming loudly. "I got it!" the blond yelled triumphantly.

Kakashi gaze a rather uninterested stare to his newest teammate. "Really?" the jounin asked, a slight drawl to his voice. Sasuke was beginning to wonder if their new sensei to be had any other setting besides lazy and uninterested. It was probably a good thing that he hadn't be given the Nara as a student, if Sasuke really thought about it.

"Yeah," Naruto shrugged as he won yet another hand that had their sensei coughing up more paper. "This whole thing was bothering me ever since you gave the rules. The bells are obviously a distraction but I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to distract us from."

"Mmmm," Kakashi mumbled, neither agreeing or disagreeing. Sasuke considered throwing a kunai and explosive tag at the man if only to vent his frustration at sitting in a tree for an hour trying to plan a strategy to get the bells for no reason. He stomped down on the temptation, not wanting to interrupt before he heard what the blond had figured out.

"It's pointless you know," Naruto told their sensei as he dealt out a new hand. "Neither one of them are going to get it or agree to it."

Agree to what, damn it! Spit it out already!

"Then you'll just end up back in the Academy," Kakashi replied as he showed his hand. Naruto smirked as he placed down a full house, winning yet another game. It was starting to get beyond ridiculous. They'd played at least ten hands and Naruto hadn't lost once. Who had that kind of luck?!

"That's not true either." Naruto informed the man. "Those that pass the test don't go back to the Academy, I so would have noticed that. I've seen more than a few of my old classmates around the village with hitai-ate."

Kakashi's eyes flickered with something but it was gone before Sasuke could give it a name. "Really? Interesting."

"To have a sixty-six percent failure rate is impossible," Naruto told him frankly. "While it's true that only three teams out of nine could pass, it's also true that no teams at all could pass. To have three teams pass no matter what is statistically impossible."

"Caught that, did you?" Kakashi asked as he handed over a few kunai, obviously out of the paper he'd been carrying. Sasuke could see the hints of frustration begin to appear in the man's body language. He made a mental note to never play poker against Naruto.

"I did." Naruto said with a distinct nod. "I've also noticed that only a few of those team had jounin sensei and not Tokubetsu Jounin sensei. Which means that should we fail, we'll likely get remedial training of some kind before being assigned to a lower ranked sensei."

"Good observation," Kakashi noted, looking mildly pleased before the look was replaced with annoyance as he handed over a few explosive tags. "Just who taught you to play poker?" he asked with an air of frustration.

Naruto just smirked at him, not answering as he stashed the tags away with his other winnings. Sasuke ignored this in favor of what the blond had said.

Naruto had obviously failed the final exam more than once and he was right in that it did seem weird that he had been just as surprised as Sasuke had when he'd heard that there was another exam that if failed, caused them to be sent back to the Academy. The blond genin would definitely have noticed if some of the genin that had passed the test showed up back in the Academy. So the jounin was trying to freak them out and distract them with the threat of losing genin status if they failed. A remedial course and lower ranked sensei wasn't nearly as terrifying.

Yet it also brought up the question of why? Why would Kakashi want them to think that the stakes were higher than they were? And what did the bells have to do with anything?

Come to think of it, Sasuke had never heard of a three man genin cell. Even that Man had two genin on his team when he'd graduated. His father had two others on his genin team as well. Sasuke remembered seeing the picture in his father's study. His mother had also had two other teammates, a red haired woman and a black haired man that he'd never seen other than the picture that sat in the sitting room (a place he avoided due to what that Man had done to their parents it that room).

So why was Kakashi saying that only two of them were going to pass?

The answer was easy, now that he had time to really think about it. Kakashi wanted to cause dissent amongst the ranks and the true test was to separate them and so he could pick them off one by one; in essence, it was a test in teamwork. Sasuke smirked.

Naruto had obviously come to this answer himself as well. His blond teammate's experience with failing the Academy test had given them the information they needed to pass and Sasuke was determined to pass. Having a jounin sensei would get him far closer to his goal than a Tokubetsu Jounin would and he would reach his goal by any means necessary.

If playing nice with his new teammates would help him in that goal, than Sasuke had no problem in doing it. Nodding to himself, he reached into his kunai pouch and brought out some shuriken.

* * *

Kakashi, shamefully enough, wasn't expecting the attack when it came. His genin team had seemed content to hide and, oddly enough, clean him out in poker instead of going after the bells. After a while, the jounin had let his guard down due to the sheer frustration that came with losing to a genin in poke even while cheating shamelessly! Just how was Naruto doing this?!

He'd lost an entire supply of sealing paper, chakra paper, five kunai, and seven explosive tags and hadn't won one round! At first he thought the blond had been doing something when he shuffled but Naruto won even when he shuffled the cards. Frankly, Kakashi was getting more and more annoyed with each round.

Even when Naruto began to make conversation about the test, Kakashi hadn't really been paying attention to what he was saying. Or what he was imply, truthfully. It wasn't until the leaves where the Uchiha was hiding ruffled and the telltale whoosh of kunai came at him that Kakashi realized what Naruto had said.

The blond had taken away the fear of returning to the Academy and had commented on the bell's purpose as a distraction and Kakashi, with his silence, had basically confirmed everything that he had said.

He was almost proud of boy if he wasn't so annoyed. Naruto had obviously been using the poker game as a distraction to keep Kakashi in one place while he analyzed the test, which Kakashi could admit was rather ingenious, then used that same method to relay his thoughts to his teammates. That wasn't the part that annoyed him, though. What annoyed him was that Naruto had been barely paying attention to their game and had  _still_  won every game!

Grumbling, Kakashi use Kawarimi to switch with a few leaves, away from the oncoming shuriken the Uchiha had thrown. Glancing to Naruto, he saw that the blond was gone, having used his distraction to disappear.

So that's how it was. Kakashi felt a small bead of hope flicker in his chest as he dared to think that this team might just do it and pass the test.

_'_ _Let the true test begin,'_  Kakashi thought with a grin spreading underneath his mask.

* * *

Naruto had used Kakashi's distraction to switch himself with a clone that he had placed within the forest during his three hour wait. Henged as a squirrel (or, rather, what he remembered a squirrel looked like), the clone had been waiting for Naruto's Kawarimi before dispelling afterwards. Now that he knew the real goal of this test, he knew what to do.

So did the Uchiha, if that attack was anything to go by. Sasuke was smart and skilled; there was a reason that he was the Rookie of the Year and Naruto was counting on those two aspects in his plan.

He severely doubted that they could get the bell if they took Kakashi head on. What they needed to do was corner the jounin and force him back into one of the traps that he had set up previously and use that to create an opening and grab one of the bells.

The best thing about that part of the plan was that it required three people. He and Sasuke would be the ones to drive Kakashi backwards while Sakura would be the one to make a grab for the bells. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." A soft pop and sudden chakra presence alerted him to the arrival of a new clone. "Go relay the plan to Sakura. I'll go get Sasuke."

"On it!" the clone replied easily before taking off.

Naruto turned in the opposite direction and headed towards Sasuke's chakra signature, waiting until Kakashi's white chakra was well away from the Uchiha before he approached.

He had not been expecting to find his teammate buried neck deep within the ground. He snorted.

"Urusai!" Sasuke snapped, clearly annoyed with both Naruto and his own situation.

"What did you think was going to happen if you fought a jounin head on?" Naruto asked sarcastically. "They don't hand out ranks without a reason, moron."

The Uchiha mumbled something under his breath that Naruto only caught due to his enhanced hearing. Rolling his eyes, an expression of annoyance that he'd been taught by the Hokage in order to blend in better, Naruto shook his head in exasperation. "How about I get you out of there and tell you my plan, eh teme?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment and Naruto was almost afraid that the Uchiha's pride would prevent him from accepting. Then a moment later, Sasuke grunted an agreement.

Three clones and some digging later and Sasuke was free. "So here's what we're going to do…"

* * *

Kakashi was on edge. There were only ten minutes left and he hadn't heard a peep from his three students since he'd taken down Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto had basically vanished off of the earth but that wasn't all that unexpected from someone that managed to lose the Anbu on a regular basis. Even that neon orange jump suit hadn't given him away.

His team was planning something and it was likely going to be something big. This was their last chance to get a bell and other than a few impressive encounters, they hadn't shown him that they could be team yet. If things continued like this, they would fail and for once, Kakashi didn't want them to fail. He wanted this team.

Naruto was a perfect mix of his parents. He had Kushina's mannerisms, her insane chakra, and her luck combined with Minato-sensei's features and his mind. In all, Naruto would be quite the fearsome ninja once he was trained up enough. And Kakashi had promised Minato that Naruto would be  _his_  student and he wasn't about to give up that right to some Tokubetsu Jounin that would likely dismiss the boy.

Sasuke showed great promise as well. Learning an elemental jutsu at such a young age was impressive and his Taijutsu, while not Chuunin level, was above genin level. He would need to work out some flaws and increase his speed but the boy could easily be Chuunin level in no time.

Sakura was the one who needed the most work down with her. While he book knowledge was phenomenal, she showed no sign of decent Taijutsu, physical fitness, or anything that was just barely at genin level. She should have been able to recognize and dispel the Genjutsu he'd ensnared her in immediately yet she had easily fallen prey to it. She would need the most work but Kakashi was sure that he could bring her up to at least High Genin level quickly enough.

His hand moved with little effort, easily deflecting the kunai headed towards his face. He ducked as a foot headed towards his face, Naruto having appeared in the place of the kunai with a quick Kawarimi. His arms blocked a punched to his left, Sasuke grunting as he fist collided with it before being batted away.

So they were coming at him together then? Kakashi held back a smile. Finally.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto called and at least a few hundred clone appeared and charged him.  _'Definitely Kushina's chakra reserves!'_  Kakashi thought as his eye widened. Several kunai dispelled a few clones as Sasuke and Naruto came at them with all they had.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke called before breathing out a giant fireball headed straight for Kakashi. Coming at him from both the left and right were Naruto clones and Kakashi was forced to jump backwards to avoid the clones and the giant ball of flames.

It was when he touched down that he realized what they had been doing. A wire snapped under his foot and Kakashi was suddenly as the center of a barrage of weapons from all directions. Cursing, he moved with a speed that would make most shinobi jealous, dodging the oncoming projectiles with ease.

Yet that was not the only thing he had to worry about. A kunai flew past his ear, embedding in the tree behind him and setting off a chain of explosive tags connected to more kunai.  _'Just who taught these kids to make traps?'_  Kakashi thought as he continued dodging weapons and explosions.  _'This is at least high genin level if not low Chunin.'_

A tug alerted him to the presence of his third student as she went for the bells. Kakashi grabbed her hand and deflected the last kunai just as the alarm rang, signaling the end of the test.

Sakura's arm was in her grasp, her fist closed around the bells as Sasuke and Naruto held two kunai to his neck and chest.

They stood there for a good few minutes, none of them sure what to do.

Well, almost none of them. With a large smile that creased his eye Kakashi grinned. "You pass."

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I know that I cut down the Naruto and Sasuke talking scene to the bare essentials but it was for a reason. Re-reading that original scene had me thinking that the Naruto I was going for wouldn't be that forth coming to a near complete stranger than I had made him. Oh well, I already knew there was going to be a lot that I would end up hating when I first decided to rewrite this in a attempt to keep from abandoning it. I did warn you that there would be changes when I declared that I was going to rewrite this.
> 
> Let me know if there are any mistakes in the chapter that I missed and I'll correct them. Reviews on how you liked the rewritten chapter would also be appreciated! Personally, I think it's much better than the original but then again, I'm biased. Also, it could be because I wrote the original when I was fifteen and now that I'm eighteen I have a better grasp on writing than I used to.
> 
> Or it could be that thing where author's automatically find fault with everything they write. That's a possibility too.
> 
> Can't wait to hear how you liked the chapter!
> 
> ~MisteryMaiden~


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